How to resolve "Could not find schema information for the element/attribute <xxx>"?

Question

In visual studio, I have an asp.net 3.5 project that is using MS Enterprise Library 4.0 application blocks.

When I have my web config file open, my Error list fills up with 99 messages with things like

Could not find schema information for the element 'dataConfiguration'.  
Could not find schema information for the attribute 'defaultDatabase'.  
Could not find schema information for the element 'loggingConfiguration'.   
Could not find schema information for the attribute 'tracingEnabled'.   
Could not find schema information for the attribute 'defaultCategory'.  

If I close the Web.config file they go away (but they come back as soon as I need to open the file again).

After doing some looking, I found that this is becauase there is an XSD or schema file missing that Visual Studio needs in order to properly 'understand' the schema that is in the web.config file and provide intellisense for it.

Does anyone know how to either supply VS with the appropriate schema information, or to turn off these messages?

@Franci - Thanks for the info, I have tried that tool as well as the MMC snap in (they tend to blow up the formatting in the Web.config) but they still do not resolve the irritating warnings I receive. Thanks for trying.

Answer 1

I configured the app.config with the tool for EntLib configuration and set up my LoggingConfiguration block. Then I copied this into the DotNetConfig.xsd. Of course, it does not cover all attributes, only the ones I added but it does not display those annoying info messages anymore.

<xs:element name="loggingConfiguration">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="listeners">
        <xs:complexType>
          <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" name="add">
              <xs:complexType>
                <xs:attribute name="fileName" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="footer" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="formatter" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="header" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="rollFileExistsBehavior" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="rollInterval" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="rollSizeKB" type="xs:unsignedByte" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="timeStampPattern" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="listenerDataType" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="traceOutputOptions" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="filter" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              </xs:complexType>
            </xs:element>
          </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
      </xs:element>
      <xs:element name="formatters">
        <xs:complexType>
          <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="add">
              <xs:complexType>
                <xs:attribute name="template" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              </xs:complexType>
            </xs:element>
          </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
      </xs:element>
      <xs:element name="logFilters">
        <xs:complexType>
          <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="add">
              <xs:complexType>
                <xs:attribute name="enabled" type="xs:boolean" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              </xs:complexType>
            </xs:element>
          </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
      </xs:element>
      <xs:element name="categorySources">
        <xs:complexType>
          <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" name="add">
              <xs:complexType>
                <xs:sequence>
                  <xs:element name="listeners">
                    <xs:complexType>
                      <xs:sequence>
                        <xs:element name="add">
                          <xs:complexType>
                            <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                          </xs:complexType>
                        </xs:element>
                      </xs:sequence>
                    </xs:complexType>
                  </xs:element>
                </xs:sequence>
                <xs:attribute name="switchValue" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              </xs:complexType>
            </xs:element>
          </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
      </xs:element>
      <xs:element name="specialSources">
        <xs:complexType>
          <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="allEvents">
              <xs:complexType>
                <xs:attribute name="switchValue" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              </xs:complexType>
            </xs:element>
            <xs:element name="notProcessed">
              <xs:complexType>
                <xs:attribute name="switchValue" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              </xs:complexType>
            </xs:element>
            <xs:element name="errors">
              <xs:complexType>
                <xs:sequence>
                  <xs:element name="listeners">
                    <xs:complexType>
                      <xs:sequence>
                        <xs:element name="add">
                          <xs:complexType>
                            <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                          </xs:complexType>
                        </xs:element>
                      </xs:sequence>
                    </xs:complexType>
                  </xs:element>
                </xs:sequence>
                <xs:attribute name="switchValue" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              </xs:complexType>
            </xs:element>
          </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
      </xs:element>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
    <xs:attribute name="tracingEnabled" type="xs:boolean" use="required" />
    <xs:attribute name="defaultCategory" type="xs:string" use="required" />
    <xs:attribute name="logWarningsWhenNoCategoriesMatch" type="xs:boolean" use="required" />
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Answer 2

An XSD is included with EntLib 5, and is installed in the Visual Studio schema directory. In my case, it could be found at:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Xml\Schemas\EnterpriseLibrary.Configuration.xsd"

CONTEXT

• Visual Studio 2010
• Enterprise Library 5

STEPS TO REMOVE THE WARNINGS

1. open app.config in your Visual Studio project
2. right click in the XML Document editor, select "Properties"
3. add the fully qualified path to the "EnterpriseLibrary.Configuration.xsd"

ASIDE

It is worth repeating that these "Error List" "Messages" ("Could not find schema information for the element") are only visible when you open the app.config file. If you "Close All Documents" and compile... no messages will be reported.

Answer 3

Have you tried copying the schema file to the XML Schema Caching folder for VS? You can find the location of that folder by looking at VS Tools/Options/Test Editor/XML/Miscellaneous. Unfortunately, i don't know where's the schema file for the MS Enterprise Library 4.0.

Update: After installing MS Enterprise Library, it seems there's no .xsd file. However, there's a tool for editing the configuration - EntLibConfig.exe, which you can use to edit the configuration files. Also, if you add the proper config sections to your config file, VS should be able to parse the config file properly. (EntLibConfig will add these for you, or you can add them yourself). Here's an example for the loggingConfiguration section:

<configSections>
    <section name="loggingConfiguration" type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Configuration.LoggingSettings, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
</configSections>

You also need to add a reference to the appropriate assembly in your project.

Answer 4

What fixed the "Could not find schema information for the element ..." for me was

• Opening my app.config.
• Right-clicking in the editor window and selecting Properties.
• In the properties box, there is a row called Schemas, I clicked that row and selected the browse ... box that appears in the row.
• I simply checked the use box for all the rows that had my project somewhere in them, and also for the current version of .Net I was using. For instance: DotNetConfig30.xsd.

After that everything went to working fine.

How those schema rows with my project got unchecked I'm not sure, but when I made sure they were checked, I was back in business.